Tote boxes



Dec. 29, 1959 WAUGH ET AL 2,919,045

TOTE BOXES Filed Dec. 29, 1955 JNVENTOR Rainier E. WAUGH GEORGE JYuragx' ATTORNEY5 TOTE BOXES Robert E. Waugh and George J. Yurek,Baltimore, Md, assignors to The Englander Company, Inc., Baltimore, Md,a corporation of Delaware Application December 29, 1955, Serial No.556,230

Claims. (Cl. 220-4) This invention relates to tote boxes and moreparticularly relates to collapsible tote boxes capable of handling heavyand bulky loads.

The shipping of heavy bulky loads of various types of materials orequipment has posed a considerable problem in that not only must freightbe paid to ship the load to its intended designation, but freight mustalso be paid to return the heavy structural metal shipping containerback to its point of origin. Most such tote boxes have been of a heavystructural metal construction which not only makes such freight chargessubstantial from a weight standpoint but also requires just as muchshipping space empty as when filled.

It is accordingly a primary object of the present invention to provide acollapsible tote box made from relatively light weight material which iscapable of handling extremely heavy and bulky loads.

' It is another object of the invention to provide a collapsible totebox made primarily of reinforced plastic which is fastened together insuch a manner as to be capable of handling loads ranging as high asseveral tons.

It is another object of the invention to provide a collapsible tote boxwhich is easily assembled and disassembled from a minimum number ofparts.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide a collapsibletote box having removable side panels which permit the bottom of thetote box to be conveniently loaded from trucks or other liftingimplements in the manner of a conventional freight pallet.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparentupon reference to the following specification and claims and appendeddrawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a tote box constructed according tothe invention and partially disassembled;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of an insert plug from a bottom cornerinsert assembly;

Figure 3 is a perspective view of a top corner insert;

Figure 4 is a perspective view of a hinge;

Figure 5 is a perspective View of a hinge tube sleeve;

Figure 6 is a partial vertical elevation showing the top of one cornerof the tote box with portions thereof broken away; and

Figure 7 is a vertical section showing the bottom of a corner of thetote box.

Referring more particularly to Figure 1 of the drawing there is shown atote box 10 consisting of a bottom panel 12 and four side panels 14which are preferably formed of a reinforced plastic such as fiber glassreinforced sheets. The bottom panel 12 is provided with rolled overedges 16 which receive bottom stiffening tubes 18 which are preferablyof reinforced plastic. Four short, seamless steel tubes 20 arevertically disposed at the four corners of the bottom panel 12 and haveapertures therein for receiving the ends of the stiffener tube 18. Thetubes 20 have tapered upper ends 22 and have plugs 24 fastened in theirlower ends. The plugs 24 have reduced diameter portions 26 and centrallylocated threaded holes 27. The plugs are secured to the tubes 20 in any2,919,045 Patented Dec. 29, 1959 suitable manner such as by forcefitting the reduced diameter portions 26 thereinto. The lower cornerjoint structure is shown best in Figure 7. The bottom panel 12 isprovided with four feet 30 which are preferably of hard wood such ashard maple and which are fastened thereto by means of a plurality ofscrews 32.

The side panels 14 are provided with rolled over top edges 34 whichreceive top stiffener tubes 36 of reinforced plastic. The vertical edgesof the side panels are provided with a plurality of hinges 37 which maybe secured thereto by means of a plastic bonding material preferably athermosetting resin such as an epoxy resin and self tapping screws 38.The hinges 37 may be formed of reinforced plastic and may comprisesingle sheets of plastic folded over to form a loop 40 as shown inFigure 4. The end of each rolled over edge 34 of the side panels 14 isfitted with a top corner insert 42 which consists of a stainless steelplug 44 having a stainless steel ring 46 integrally secured thereto inany suitable manner. The top corner inserts may all be identical, withthe ring 46 occupying one-half of the edge of the plug 44, and half ofthe corner inserts are inserted with the ring 46 in the lower positionas shown at 47 in Figure 6, while the other half are inserted with thering in an inverted or upper position, as shown at 49 in Figure 6, inorder that adjoining rings may mate with one another.

The hinges 37 and top corner inserts 42 are fastened together by meansof hinge tubes 48 of reinforced plastic having shouldered sleeves 56mounted in the top ends thereof. These sleeves comprise bearing portions51 and reduced diameter portions 53 which are received in the upper endsof the hinge tubes 48, as seen in Figure 6. The shouldered sleeves Si)are apertured at 52, as shown in Figure 5, to receive the tie rods 28which have loops 54 at their upper ends. The tie rods 28 are threaded attheir lowermost ends at 29 and engage the threaded apertures in insertplugs 24 when the hinge tubes 48 are slid downwardly through the hinges37 over the insert tubes 20 as shown in Figures 6 and 7. The bearingportions 51 of sleeves 50 are sufficiently long to form bearing surfacesfor the rings 46 as seen in Figure 6.

The entire tote box other than the tie rods, insert tubes and insertsmay be made of reinforced plastic thereby greatly reducing the weightnecessary to handle heavy loads. The bottom panel may be placed upon afloor and the side panels removed in the manner shown in Figure 1 sothat the bottom panel may be loaded by vehicles in the same manner as anordinary freight pallet. The side panels may then be assembled to thetote box and a sling passed through the loops 54 at the tops of the tierods 28 in order to lift the box. After the box reaches its destinationthe hinge tubes may be removed and the side panels laid flat upon thebottom panel so as to provide a compact relatively light weight unit forreshipping to its point of origin.

It will be noted that while the tote box is constructed almost entirelyof reinforced plastic it is provided with metal elements fortransmitting both vertical and lateral loads to the plastic panels. Thevertical metal tubes 20 at the corners of the bottom panel transmit thelifting force to the bottom panel through the stiffener tubes 18 and thelifting force is transmitted to these tubes by the metal tie rods 28 andmetal insert plugs 24. Lateral load at the top of the box is resisted byinsert plugs 44 which transmit this load through rings 46 to the metalsleeves 50 mounted on the metal tie rods and shouldered in the hingetubes.

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departingfrom the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The presentembodiment is therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrativeand not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by theappended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and allchanges which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of theclaims are therefore intended to be embraced therein. V

What is claimed and desired to be secured by United States LettersPatent is:

1. A collapsible tote box comprising a reinforced plastic bottom panelhaving metal fastening members at the corners thereof, reinforcedplastic side panels hinged together by tubular reinforced plastic hingepins, metal sleeves attached to the tops of said hinge pins and havingportions extending thereinto, metal rings attached to the upper cornersof said side panels and encircling said sleeves, and metal tie rodspassing concentrically through said sleeves and hinge pins and beingreleasably connected to said metal fastening members to fasten said sidepanels to said bottom panel.

2. A collapsible tote box comprising a bottom panel having rolled edges,stiffening tubes in said rolled edges, upstanding members at the cornersof said bottom panel, each of said upstanding members being attached tothe ends of two of said stiffening tubes which are subtentiallyperpendicular to one another, side panels having rolled upper edges,stiffener members in said edges, hinge members attached to the verticaledges of said side panels, and hinge pins passing through said hingemembers and having their lower ends fastened to said upstanding membersto secure said side panels to one another and to transmit a liftingforce direct to all of the stiffening tubes in said bottom panel.

3. A collapsible tote box as set out in claim 2 wherein said hinge pinscomprise hollow tubes having lower ends which receive said upstandingmembers, and tie rods passing through said tubes and secured to saidupstanding members.

4. A collapsible tote box as set out in claim 2 wherein said hinge pinsare hollow, metal bearing members attached to the upper ends of saidhinge pins, rod like inserts in the ends of the stiffener members insaid side panels, and rings attached to said inserts and encircling andengaging said metal bearing members, two rings encircling and engagingeach bearing member.

5. A collapsible tote box as set out in claim 4 wherein said hinge pinscomprise hollow tubes having lower ends which receive said upstandingmembers, and tie rods passing through said bearing members and tubes andhaving their lower ends screw threadedly engaged with said upstandingmembers, said tie rods having hooks at their upper ends.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS941,013 Doble et a1. -2 Nov. 23, 1909 1,441,343 Hartshorn Jan. 9, 19231,920,312 Klinka Aug. 1, 1933 2,024,075 Swaim Dec. 10, 1935 2,494,275Abbott Jan. 10, 1950 2,526,716 Wales Oct. 24, 1950 2,729,386 Haddad Jan.3, 1956

